The effect of creatine monohydrate (CM) supplementation on performance of high-intensity, short-duration tasks has been studied extensively in men, but few studies have investigated this issue in women. To test the hypothesis that CM improves Wingate test (WT) peak power production and work capacity in women, 9 well-trained subjects (baseline age mean ±SD = 27 ± 6 years; body mass = 56.9 ± 5.7 kg; peak power = 538 ± 105 W; work capacity = 12.27 ± 1.20 kJ) received, in a double-blind manner with counterbalanced treatment order, 2 supplementation regimens (20 g·d1 for 5 days) of both CM and Polycose placebo (PL). Both CM and PL were separated by a 95 ± 3-day washout period. Immediately following each supplementation period, subjects completed 3 WTs, nterspersed with a 5-minute rest interval. No significant treatment (p = 0.30) or treatment-by-test interaction effects (p = 0.39) were observed in WT peak power production (CM mean ± SE = 540 ± 30, 484 ± 23, 435 ± 19 W vs. PL = 522 ± 30, 481± 22, 403 ± 32 W). The WT work capacity was also unchanged by CM supplementation (CM mean ± SE = 12.39 ± 0.67, 10.60 ± 0.50, 9.56 ± 0.59 vs. PL = 12.09 ± 0.32, 10.60 ± 0.54, 9.39 ± 0.67 kJ) with no treatment (p = 0.76) or treatment-by-test interaction effects (p = 0.66). The practical application of this study is that 5 days of CM supplementation did not increase WT peak power production and work capacity in women.
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